Good local relationships help to enhance our reputation so we try to connect with people and projects in the areas where we work.

We have a long tradition of giving something back. There is great community spirit across the business and we encourage and nurture it.

We directly fund our flagship project It’s Your Community, which we have run in partnership with the Conservation Foundation since 2007. This was extended in 2008 to include five Big Site projects, selected and run by employees. In addition, we are active in programmes that address issues associated with our technology, such as mobile safety, children at risk and crime prevention.

Measuring performance

We use an online data management tool to track cash and in-kind donations as well as paid hours from employee volunteering.

Along with Telefónica, we adhere to the London Benchmarking Group (LBG) model for the measurement of our corporate community investment.

In 2008:

• Total cash donations for Telefónica O2 UK were £937,123
• Total value of our in-kind donations was £850
• Total volunteer time in paid hours was £92,140 (measured at the value of £20 per employee, per hour).